The lease, held by Advanced Education Minister Ken Cheveldayoff, would set straight whether rules were broken concerning a taxpayer-funded MLA office in Saskatoon Willowgrove.
Cheveldayoff is under fire for allegedly violating the rules of the assembly for years by subletting his taxpayer funded constituency office. Despite Cheveldayoff claiming that it was a “split-lease,” and that he had ceased subletting when requested to by Speaker Todd Goudy, the NDP recently obtained a real estate listing showing that Cheveldayoff was not only seeking to sublet the office as recently as Fall 2025, but also was claiming that he was the owner of the property.
The Motion, which the Sask. Party voted against at the House Services Committee, read: That the Standing Committee on House Services requests that the Clerk make available on the Assembly website copies of all lease agreements entered into by the Member for Saskatoon Willowgrove for the operation of his constituency office.
“This is basic accountability that the government is clearly opposed to,” said Jordan McPhail, Shadow Minister of Democracy and Ethics, and the MLA who moved the motion at the Committee. “I released the lease for my constituency office. If Scott Moe and his minister have nothing to hide they should have zero issue releasing this one, so we can finally put this Sublet Scandal to bed.”
“We will not stop fighting for accountability and transparency for the people of Saskatoon Willowgrove and right across the province,” McPhail added.
“To that end, we will be sending a letter to the Speaker to formally request that he hold an investigation into Mr. Cheveldayoff’s use of his taxpayer-funded constituency budget.
McPhail will be requesting the investigation under section 56 of the Legislative Assembly Act, which reads:
At the request of any member or on the Speaker’s own initiative, the Speaker may conduct, in the Speaker’s capacity as chair of the board, any review the Speaker considers necessary to determine whether a member’s use of any allowance, disbursement, payment, good, premises or service provided pursuant to this Act complies with:
(a) the purposes for which the allowance, disbursement, payment, good, premises or the service was provided; or
(b) The purposes of this Act or the board’s directives
Beck's team had previously requested that the Conflict of Interest Commissioner investigate; however, they were referred back to the Speaker and the specific provision in the Act.
“Being transparent, and upfront with the people of this province, should not be like pulling teeth — but that is how the Sask. Party is treating it.” McPhail said. “It is clearly time for change.”
McPhail will submit his formal request for the Speaker investigation later today.
-30-